The 2022 edition of Türkiye’s largest aviation, space and technology festival Teknofest opened its doors to visitors in the northern Black Sea province of Samsun on Tuesday.
Organized by the Turkish Technology Team Foundation (T3 Foundation) and the Industry and Technology Ministry, Teknofest Black Sea kicked off at the Çarşamba Airport.
As part of the festival, various shows and technology competitions will be held through Sunday.
At the event, Türkiye's aviation and space industry is displaying its domestic products alongside products manufactured by public institutions such as electric vehicles.
The Solo Türk and Turkish Stars aerobatic teams of the Turkish Air Forces Command will perform a demonstration flight in the skies of Samsun as part of the event.
One of the main sponsors of this year’s event, the defense company CANiK, which operates within the body of Samsun Yurt Savunma (SYS), is exhibiting its advanced technology products at Teknofest Black Sea – in the city where the brand was born.
The domestic 12.7 x 99 mm anti-aircraft CANiK M2 QCB family, developed within the scope of the Platform Machine Gun project signed with the Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB), is expected to be among the products that will attract the most attention.
CANiK aims to showcase its subsidiaries UNIDEF and UNIROBOTICS as well as its store chain CANiK STORE at its stand set up on an area of 300 square meters (3,229 square feet). The company will exhibit its latest pistol models, highlight the CANiK Academy where it conducts training activities and introduce its innovative educational products, CANiK SMART and CANiK APP, to participants at the event.
SYS General Manager Utku Aral, whose views were included in a company statement, said that Teknofest will enable Türkiye’s youth to dream about innovative technologies, research and development (R&D) activities and the aerospace, aviation and defense industry where the most advanced technologies are used.
"As one of the main sponsors, this year we aim to provide pleasant moments to our children and visitors at the festival with our Freeze application, which can cover a large part of the Teknofest area with its multi-camera feature and offers the opportunity to take 180-degree photos, as well as many events from the wind tunnel to the airsoft shooting experience," Aral said.
Developed by Turkish drone magnate Baykar, the National Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle System (MIUS) named Bayraktar Kızılelma ("Red Apple"), which is preparing to make its maiden flight, is also among the products exhibited at Teknofest Black Sea.
Bayraktar Kızılelma's second production prototype is being exhibited for the first time at the event.
Bayraktar Akıncı and Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) pilot instructor Elif Ergin told Anadolu Agency (AA) that they carried out test and training activities at Akıncı flight training centers.
Stating that the Kızılelma was exhibited for the first time in Samsun, Ergin said the concept design of the vehicle was completed in May 2021.
"The structural integration of the Kızılelma has been completed to a large extent, the mechanical and avionics integration process is continuing. We are planning its maiden flight in the first months of 2023."
Highlighting that the Bayraktar Kızılelma has high maneuverability, Ergin stated that the vehicle can stay in the air for five hours and reach an operational altitude of 35,000 feet.
"Kızılelma is one of the latest developments in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology in the world. It has a take-off weight of 6 tons and a payload capacity of 1.5 tons. We plan to integrate all locally developed ammunition in the air force's inventory."
She noted that one of the most important features of Kızılelma is its ability to vertically take off and land on ships with short runways such as Türkiye’s flagship-to-be landing helicopter dock (LHD) type vessel Anadolu.